Amazon is testing a new minimum order amount of $35 for non-Prime members to qualify for free shipping, raising the amount from $25 in what has been a constantly shifting bar over the years.
- The price increase does not affect Prime members, who pay $139 a year for a subscription that includes free shipping and other perks, such as access to streaming content.
- “We continually evaluate our offerings and make adjustments based on those assessments,” Amazon spokesperson Kristina Pressentin told GeekWire. “Prime members continue to enjoy free delivery on over 300 million items, with tens of millions of items available for free same or one-day delivery.”
- The testing will apply to some customers in randomly generated markets, and raising the price could drive more customers to sign up for Prime.
- Amazon previously raised the minimum order amount for non-subscribers from $35 to $49 annually in 2016 and then back down to $35 in 2017, and later $25, as it faced new shipping pricing competition from Walmart.
- Amazon has been making a number of changes as it looks for ways to cut costs. The company slashed 27,000 corporate and tech jobs; added new fees to its Amazon Fresh grocery delivery service; ended the charity program AmazonSmile; ended its healthcare business; closed a handful of Amazon Go stores; and paused construction on its HQ2 project.
